I think blaming catholocism in any way for the spread of AIDS is .. well, obviously, it's stupid, but I have a different point -
Well, not really, but I just wanted to mention that there was some story on washpost last year about the spread of VD in Africa due to the popularity among men of the practice of "dry sex." To accomplish this, women put some weird (really weird) compound up the hidey-ho to dry themselves out, and then their friendly male companion pounds it to em. Since condom use is rare - not because people are Catholic, but because no one likes condoms and most people, even people in Africa where a great many people have AIDS, thinks AIDS happens to other people (or don't give a fuck if they get AIDS), and because the dry sex practice leaves the woman torn and bloody, AIDS, herpes, and other STDS spread like wildfire.
I find conversations that equate avowing a religion with BEING religious pretty riotous. How many people do you know how claim to be christian? Of those, how many really lead a religious lifestyle? In America, the number has to be pretty fuckin' close to zero, since the average American lifestyle itself is rampantly opposed to the J/C value system.
So that's why people who blame the pope for AIDS are fucking retards, is what I meant to say. Even if you like, only half blame him, or read "THE POPE CAN BE BLAMED FOR THE SPREAD OF AIDS IN AFRICA" and kind of agree internally.. it just shows a complete fuckin' lack of insight into your own retarded opinions. People fucking is what spreads AIDS in Africa. I'd be real curious to see what the number of monogamous couples who contracted/spread AIDS is.
OBPope, I got a Pope John Paul II comic book when I was baptised at age 13. By that time, I was already an atheist, but it was a pretty good comic. The one about St Francis was cool, too.
Obpolitics.. Hoblit, the reason it's OK for the pope to be political is that HELL FUCK YES HE HAS AN AGENDA. He's the pope! His job is to convert people to catholicism and make his church richer and more powerful. That has fuck-all to do with why he was a good man and a valued elder statesman. In spite of having the job of making the CC bigger etc, he spent a lot of time doing things he didn't have to do to try to help people's lives suck less. And, like EriK said, we're talking about people whose lives REALLY fucking suck. He fought with everything he had against political injustice and tyrrany, and was, by all accounts, perfectly open about all of his views. This isn't Jerry Fuckin' Fallwell we're talking about here.
